Junior sister, I really need to control you.

Chapter 93 The Will to Cultivate, the Master of Weapon Refining

Inside the main hall of the Casting Furnace Temple.

Caught red-handed by Shangguan Ling'er, the three True Persons of the Forging Furnace Temple, who had been discussing amongst themselves through divine sense, looked at each other and dared only to exchange glances.

Shangguan Ling'er remained expressionless and silent.

An awkward silence fell over the hall.

Just as the awkward atmosphere continued to spread, Li Yinsheng stepped forward and took the initiative to speak.

"Besides repairing the White Rainbow Sword and the Forging Vein Rope, I have another matter to discuss with you today."

He gestured to Mu Xiaoyu beside him: "My junior sister here has acquired a rare treasure that can be hidden within one's divine sense, making it difficult for others to detect."

"It just so happens that my junior sister will be taking the Dao Examination next year, so I thought I'd refine this rare treasure into a high-grade magic weapon to surprise her during the examination."

Seeing that Li Yinsheng had changed the subject, Master Hunjun quickly chimed in, "Fellow Daoist Li, rest assured, leave this matter to my Casting Furnace Temple!"

"I will personally forge a magical artifact for young friend Mu!"

As for Li Yinsheng, a dignified master, calling a mere immature girl "junior sister," he selectively ignored it.

The situation at Xuanzhen Temple is indeed special, so it's normal that they don't place much emphasis on seniority.

"Speaking of which, I've only seen a handful of materials that can be imperceptible to divine sense. Young friend Mu is truly fortunate!"

Master Kunjun looked at Mu Xiaoyu and said.

Hearing what Hunjun Zhenren said, Li Yinsheng breathed a sigh of relief.

It seems that although materials that can be imperceptible to divine sense are rare, the Forging Furnace Temple has some knowledge of them and is capable of refining them.

"Junior sister, let the three fellow Daoists take a look at the item," Li Yinsheng said.

"Hmm!" Mu Xiaoyu nodded, took out the black stone from her Qiankun bag, and showed it to him.

"Huh?" Master Kunjun was taken aback.

His divine sense couldn't detect the black stone at all.

Could it be that this black stone can not only evade the divine sense of ordinary cultivators, but also hide beneath the divine sense of true cultivators?!

What is this?

"Fellow Daoist Hunjun, is there a problem?" Li Yinsheng asked.

Kunjun frowned, raised his hand and took the black stone into his palm. He scanned it back and forth with his divine sense, examined it for a long time, and then looked at Li Yinsheng, and couldn't help but sigh.

"This thing is peculiar; even my divine sense could not detect it in the slightest."

"Fellow Daoist Hunjun, are you confident in refining it?" Li Yinsheng asked.

"Uh," Hunjun Zhenren's tone was no longer as confident as before, "the forging of magical artifacts requires manipulating materials with divine sense, refining their form, and inscribing restrictions—"

"Generally speaking, materials that can evade divine sense cannot evade the divine sense of a real person, nor can they be isolated from divine sense by certain special means."

"If handled properly, this type of material can be touched by the refiner's divine sense during the refining process. After the refining is completed, it will regain its characteristic of being difficult to detect by divine sense."

Master Kunjun examined the black stone in his palm, looking troubled: "However, even my divine sense couldn't detect this thing at all."

"I doubt that the methods used to refine this type of material will be effective against this black stone."

"If it cannot be perceived and controlled with divine sense, then it cannot be refined?" Li Yinsheng asked.

"That's for sure," Hunjun Zhenren said without hesitation.

"So this black stone can't be used as a material for refining weapons?" Li Yinsheng was somewhat disappointed.

Master Kunjun did not answer the question, but instead asked, "Fellow Daoist Li, may I ask, even if this black stone is refined into a magical artifact, how will Young Friend Mu use it?"

"When cultivators use magical artifacts, they also need to control them with their divine sense."

"If Fellow Daoist Li has any method to control this black stone with his divine sense, perhaps he can even refine it."

"I have no solution," Li Yinsheng said, "but Junior Sister Mu's divine sense is special, allowing her to perceive and manipulate this black stone normally."

.

"I see!" Master Kunjun shook his head. "Then I have no way to help you. I cannot access or manipulate it with my divine sense, so I cannot carry out the refining."

"No way at all?" Li Yinsheng looked disappointed.

"There is another possibility, but in that case, let alone in time for the next Shaoyang Dao Examination, even if you are preparing for the Zhengyang Dao Examination, it will probably be many more examinations before you can use this magic weapon."

Upon hearing Master Kunjun's words, Li Yinsheng immediately realized: "Fellow Daoist, do you mean to let my junior sister do it herself?"

Mu Xiaoyu, who was sitting next to him eating snacks, stopped what she was doing, stared blankly at her senior brother, and mechanically chewed the snack in her mouth.

I'll do it myself? Do what? Senior brother, you're not telling me to forge magical artifacts myself, are you?!

Master Kunjun stroked his beard and said, "That's right. Since only young friend Mu can sense and control this black stone, the only way is to let her learn the art of weapon crafting. After she has mastered it, she can craft it herself."

Mu Xiaoyu froze as she chewed her snack, staring wide-eyed at the wonton master.

What are you saying, old man? Do you know how busy I am every day? How could I possibly have time to learn weapon crafting?

You're so old, your hair and beard are all white, how can you talk so meanly!

"While it is a possible solution—" Li Yinsheng hesitated greatly, "the art of weapon crafting is profound and extremely demanding. Is it not worthwhile to learn weapon crafting just to refine this black stone?"

Mu Xiaoyu nodded frantically to the side.

Yes, yes, yes! Senior brother, you're absolutely right!

It's just not worth it! Absolutely not worth it!

"What Fellow Daoist Li says makes sense," Master Kunjun nodded.

"The art of refining weapons is extremely difficult. The first step alone, which involves repeatedly tempering and purifying materials with one's own true fire and divine sense, is already very arduous. The hardships involved are not something that can be explained to outsiders."

"However, it is precisely because the practice is difficult that weapon refiners are treated with great respect. It can be said that every bit of hard work brings a corresponding reward."

"Moreover, if weapon crafting is a secondary cultivation, it won't be too energy-consuming. Whether or not to let Mu Xiaoyu assist in weapon crafting is up to Fellow Daoist Li to decide."

Li Yinsheng didn't notice the second half of Kunjun Zhenren's sentence. When Kunjun Zhenren said, "Weapon refiners are treated with great courtesy," he heard the familiar sound of a great bell.

The golden characters for "Cave Heaven" then appeared before their eyes.

[Cultivation Ambition: The Lord of the Grotto-Heaven has entered the right track of cultivation, and it is time to supplement his cultivation with artifacts and expand his methods!]

The Lord of the Grotto-Heaven has already come into contact with the Way of Weapon Forging. Please improve your weapon forging skills as much as possible within ten years, forge higher and higher-grade magical artifacts, and become a weapon forging master as soon as possible!

This cultivation journey will last for ten years, and the types of magical artifacts to be crafted are not limited. The entire crafting process must be completed by the master of the cave alone.

Directly transforming naturally occurring spiritual objects or similar items into magical treasures is not considered part of the cultivation outcome.

The process of refining a semi-finished ritual implement or magical artifact into a complete one is not considered part of the outcome of one's spiritual practice.

The creation of magical artifacts whose value is lower than that of the materials themselves is not counted as a result of one's cultivation aspirations.

Cultivation Rewards:

For crafting a subpar magical artifact, the reward is ten years of cultivation.

For crafting a low-grade magic weapon, you will be rewarded with twenty years of cultivation.

Forty years of cultivation will be awarded for successfully crafting a mid-grade magic weapon.

The reward for crafting a superior-grade magic weapon is eighty years of cultivation.

One hundred and twenty years of cultivation will be awarded for successfully crafting a quasi-magical artifact.

[A reward of two hundred years of cultivation will be given for successfully crafting a magical artifact.]

Li Yinsheng's heart stirred slightly.

This was the most rewarding reward he had ever seen for his dedication to spiritual practice.

The final reward alone is worth two hundred years, the same as the reward for obtaining the Life-Giving and Creation Pill to help my master uncle break through and rebuild his cultivation.

However, the reward for that cultivation ambition is capped at two hundred years of cultivation, and the final tier of this light also requires two hundred years of cultivation.

If you include all the previous levels, that's a total of 470 years of cultivation!

Li Yinsheng's current cultivation level is only a little over three hundred years, and the cultivation level he received as a reward is 50% higher than his total cultivation level!

However, after glancing at the requirements for cultivation, he felt that the reward was reasonable.

The highest level of crafting a magical artifact within ten years is a feat that is simply beyond human comprehension.

Although he didn't know how to refine artifacts, magic weapons are something that only real people can use. If you want to refine them, you should also be a real person, right?

Even if someone's weapon crafting skills are exceptionally high and can compensate for a lack of cultivation, their minimum cultivation level shouldn't be much lower than that of a True Person, right?

This final level is probably more difficult than simply making someone cultivate to become a true immortal within ten years.

As for the slightly less powerful quasi-magic weapons, although he had never heard of them, their meaning was not difficult to understand.

It's estimated that the cultivation level required will be quite high.

Moreover, cultivation level is only a basic requirement; the corresponding skill in weapon crafting is even more difficult to improve.

If you want to improve your cultivation level quickly, you can rely on rare and precious materials. But how can you quickly improve your weapon crafting skills?

Moreover, the last few requirements of this cultivation will completely block any shortcuts or tricks.

If she has to forge it herself, then she can't ask a master craftsman to "co-forge" it with her junior sister.

It also cannot be directly transformed using naturally occurring spiritual objects, just like he forged the Azure Sword.

The last rule, in particular, that one cannot forge magical artifacts whose value is lower than the cost of the materials, is especially malicious.

In this way, Li Yinsheng couldn't just take a bunch of materials for high-grade magic weapons and let his junior sister forge a mid-grade magic weapon first, so she could make do and claim the reward.

Such rigorous training deserves so many rewards.

Li Yinsheng pondered for a few moments, then came to his senses, dismissed the golden characters in front of him, and looked at Mu Xiaoyu, who had been nodding at him.

"Junior Sister has been nodding, it seems she's quite interested in weapon crafting," Li Yinsheng suggested, "Why don't we give it a try?"

Mu Xiaoyu, who was nodding, still had some snacks in her mouth, and nearly choked to death when she heard Li Yinsheng's words.

Her face was flushed, and she stared blankly at Li Yinsheng.

Senior brother, you weren't like this just now!

"Alright, since Fellow Daoist Li and Young Friend Mu are both interested, I happen to have a few introductory books on weapon crafting, so I'll give them to Fellow Daoist Li."

Master Hunjun laughed heartily and handed several books to Li Yinsheng.

"Furthermore, both repairing the White Rainbow Sword and forging the Vein-Forging Rope will take some time."

"I would like to ask Fellow Daoist Li and Fellow Daoist Linghuang to stay at the temple for a few days. During this time, I can also arrange for a suitable junior to personally teach Young Friend Mu and help her get started in the art of weapon crafting."

The third True Person, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up, looking at True Person Zhao Xuan.

"Junior brother, in your lineage, is there a junior member who is quite skilled in weapon crafting and is currently in charge of the Fire Cloud Hall?"

"That's right. I have a grandniece who is not yet fifty years old, but she can already refining high-grade magic artifacts steadily, two years earlier than I was at that age."

Master Zhaoxuan laughed and said, "If I didn't want her to be distracted, I would have appointed her as the abbess. Why keep her only in the Fire Cloud Hall?"

"It's right that you didn't become the abbot. You've achieved such skill at such a young age. If you cultivate diligently and refine your weapons well, you might even become a True Person in the future."

Master Hunjun nodded and said, "Junior brother, have that girl put aside what she's doing and personally guide young friend Mu in the basics of weapon crafting."

"Alright, Senior Brother, I'll have someone arrange it right away!" Master Zhaoxuan clapped his hands, and a red light flashed out.

A moment later he said, "It's done. I've already sent that girl to wait in front of Fellow Daoist Li's room."

"Thank you very much, fellow Daoists." Li Yinsheng cupped his hands in thanks.

"Haha, Fellow Daoist Li, you're too kind."

"It's just a small favor, a simple act of kindness—"

The three masters from the Casting Furnace Temple waved their hands, indicating that there was no need to be polite. For a time, the three of them chatted happily with Li Yinsheng.

Mu Xiaoyu, sitting in the corner, stared wide-eyed at the four people enjoying themselves.

Has any of you ever cared about me?

"Sigh, little girl, you're going to help with weapon crafting again."

A slender, snow-white hand landed on Mu Xiaoyu's head, seemingly to comfort her.

Mu Xiaoyu looked at Shangguan Ling'er, who had spoken up for her, with gratitude.

So there are still people who care about me!

"With such poor talent, and now you're even having to supplement your cultivation with artifacts, it's probably going to be difficult for you to achieve anything. Just treat it as something to play around with—" Shangguan Ling'er shook her head and said.

Mu Xiaoyu: ————